UA: First Says Office of the President Pressured It; OP Calls Accusations Incorrect

The journalist cited several ultimatums that were given to the program's editorial team.

Host of the Countdown program on UA: First TV channel Myroslava Barchuk accused the Office of the President of pressuring journalists. The OP called the accusations incorrect.

We explain what the journalist meant by "pressure" and how the OP responded to such accusations. 

Statement by Myroslava Barchuk

Myroslava Barchuk
host of the Countdown program

Andriy Yermak's staff accused the talk show Countdown of failing to observe journalistic standards (the lack of a balance of opinions in yesterday's studio). I would not pay attention to this information killing by anonymous Telegram channels and former journalists if it were not a symptom of a much more serious problem. First, the Office of the President has long and strictly controlled the presence of People's Deputies from the Servant of the People faction on air. Candidates for airtime are coordinated with the contact person M. Podolyak in the OP. This is not news. Although I have more and more questions about the agency of People's Deputies, their personal position and dignity and, ultimately, the principle of parliamentarism. Second, recently the OP has been putting conditions and ultimatums to our editorial team regarding the presence of "servants of the people" on air.

As an example, the journalist cited an ultimatum that the editorial team was allegedly given last Monday: for a program on energy security, either two "servants" (neither of them experts) would appear, or none at all. 

The journalists decided not to accept the ultimatums and invited Lyudmila Buymister, who no longer followed the instructions of the Office of the President. Last Monday a second ultimatum appeared: the "servants" (two of them) would appear on air only on condition that the editorial team refused to host Geo Leros, who had been invited earlier. 

According to Barchuk, the program's editorial team perceived this as pressure: "We refused to comply with the ultimatum, and the representatives of the mono-majority did not come. This morning we received accusations from Yermak's people that there were no representatives of the mono-majority on our air, and that this is a 'failure to observe journalistic standards'. But I am not talking about the meanness here."  

Myroslava Barchuk
host of the Countdown program

I am talking about the first warning signs. In particular, about the threat to freedom of speech and independent journalism as a whole. It seems to me we should not miss these signals, the trial balloons that the authorities are floating. 

The journalist recalled how "it all began in 2010, when first Anna German determined the guests on channels, then the hosts of those channels, then licenses were simply taken away from opposition TV channels, and then a catastrophe happened". 

She urged colleagues not to give in and to speak openly about cases of pressure and blackmail. She also appealed to People's Deputies from the Servant of the People and urged them not to take part in this blackmail, to come on air, present their position and thereby defend parliamentary democracy in the country, "because authoritarianism is a threat to everyone, including you". 

How the Office of the President responded

Adviser to the head of the OP Mykhailo Podolyak, in a comment to BBC Ukraine, called the journalist's comment "emotional" and the accusations "incorrect and unfounded". 

Mykhailo Podolyak
adviser to the head of the OP

The independent editorial policy of any media outlet is a key sign of a healthy society and a modern state. That is, direct interference in the work of editorial teams is absolute nonsense. 

He noted that society expects media to provide unbiased moderation on air, when "all sides of the dialogue have equal opportunities", hinting that the UA: First channel does not always provide such opportunities.

"But if one or another representative of the authorities sees consistent and stubborn imbalance of positions in the airtime of a given project, constant and obvious bias of the hosts and editorial team, then one can understand the extremely small desire of people to go on air precisely on this project," said the adviser to the head of the Office of the President. 

Podolyak added that it is important for the OP that the authorities be represented on air in a substantive and professional manner. 

Mykhailo Podolyak
adviser to the head of the OP

That is, not airtime for its own sake, but airtime to explain certain government initiatives. Substantive position is precisely what deputies of the faction or other representatives of the broader government team can receive consultation on, within a fully rational approach to a coordinated unified information policy.